Women Are From Earth
by masumi-marine
Summary: Harm-Mac; Many things happen just once in a lifetime and this is one of them. The universe is executing an interplanetary alignment and one event leads to another.


Title: Women Are from Earth   
  
Author: Masumi  
  
Email: masumi_marine@hotmail.com  
  
Classification: Humour/Romance, Harm/Mac

Rating: PG  
  
Disclaimer: _JAG_ belongs to DPB and CBS. No infringement intended. 

Summary: Many things happen just once in a lifetime and this is one of them. The universe is executing an interplanetary alignment and one event leads to another. 

Author's Note: A flashfic fusion of reality and fiction. Additional notes at the end.  

All stories can be found at:   
Yahoo Group ~ groups.yahoo.com~group/masumi_fanfics  
  
Website ~ www.geocities.com~masumi_marine   
(Fanfiction.net doesn't seem to be accepting links, so where you see a "~" replace it with a "/" instead). 

Any suggestions, comments, constructive criticism welcome

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Wednesday August 27 2003******

**18:05 ****EST****  
****JAG****Headquarters****  
****Falls**** Church, Virginia**

"Mac, you ready to go?"

She looked up at her occupied doorway. Harm, cover tucked under one arm and briefcase in hand, looked ready for take off to ... where she wasn't sure. As far as she knew, they didn't have plans for the evening. 

"Yea, almost. I've just got to finish off this report," she answered with a questioning look.

"Take your time, I'll just wait," he gestured at her chair.

"Sure¯" he'd already settled into the seat. When he didn't offer anything more, she frowned, shrugged, and returned to her files. During the next twenty minutes that it took to finalise her work for the day, she couldn't help but steal occasional glances at Harm. A small smile or a mildly heated gaze was always waiting for her. 

******.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.**

        The guard saluted them as they exited the front entrance of JAG HQ. His mysteriousness was rotating her curiosity radar into overdrive. "What's up Harm?"

"I want you to come somewhere with me." 

"Okay, where to?" 

"You'll find out soon." 

Mac halted mid-stride, exceedingly puzzled at his attitude.

He nudged her briefcase with his own. "Go on, drop your stuff off and we'll take my car."

**Southeast of ****Virginia**

The music was on loud, the windows were down and the breeze fanning gently through their hair. Harm's fiery red corvette was swiftly leaving behind the jagged structures of the hectic cityscape. Although all this secrecy was nagging at her, Mac was simultaneously enjoying the spontaneity of this impromptu road trip. Harm had let loose into a jovial mood, bobbing comically to the dancing beats. Occasions like this were gradually becoming more common. In the past few months after their Paraguayan adventure, they'd somewhat incredulously moved naturally into an even closer relationship. One where fun was had on recurrent dates, affections were shown freely and even more frequently. In the ninth year, it was slow advance, but utter bliss. They were cruising on the relationship highway of their lives; final destination as yet unknown. 

Mac turned down the volume. "Harm, can't you just give me a hint," she cajoled. "You know how I hate being kept in the dark."

He glanced at her amusingly and then nodded upwards at the sky. "I'm taking you to see Mars."

Presuming it to be a joke, she took it in stride. Mac tilted her head back and laughed. "Sarah's going to fly us there?"

"If you can _Sarah_. I didn't know your alter ego was wonder woman." Harm tossed back good-naturedly. 

She responded in kind, saying light-heartedly, "Well, I do fight for truth and justice, and I protect the world from _harm_, don't I?" 

Harm blinked in surprise at the uncanny truth in her reply. 

Mac waited expectantly for another more valid hint. It didn't come. "You're serious aren't you? Where exactly are we going, some kinda new scientific exhibition?"

"Not quite, but we do have 'ringside' seats," he emphasised enthusiastically. "Last night, I got one of those forwards emails from Bud. Seems like Mars mania is taking place around the world. I checked it out, apparently Mars will be in its closest distance to Earth in sixty-thousand years."

"And we're going to partake in this _phenomenon, _how?" Mac retorted, her tone rose with scepticism. 

"Come on Mac, you're the one who talks about rifts in the time-space continuum and you've got this unidentified internal clock going on." 

"Yea, but what'll we see, it's probably just another dot in the sky Harm."

Uncertainty crept into his plans. "I just, thought you might enjoy this," Harm said subdued.  

He looked like a vulnerable little boy, who had just for the first time voiced his dreams and aspirations. Mac was dreadfully chastised. She covered his hand that rested on his thigh. "I'm sorry Harm, I'm just being difficult."   

He returned a forgiving smile, turning his hand over to lace their fingers together. 

**A While Later**

They'd arrived at the terrains of a national park. Harm led them on about a fifteen minutes hike up a relatively steep cliff. They emerged from the uphill climb at the peak, to a spectacular panorama of the natural world. The sun was retiring for the day behind the horizon, slipping low and illuminating the stretch of sea into thousands of glistening sparkles. They stood for long minutes, Harm with his arm wrapped around Mac's shoulder, enjoying the beauty of the moment.  

"They say the best time to view Mars is in the dark of night, so we'll have a light dinner and wait for nightfall," he said. He'd prepared for them salads, pasta and sandwiches.

"So the aliens have finally gotten to you huh," Mac teased. "I knew they would eventually."

Harm answered her with a toss of his scrunched up food wrapper. 

By the time the food had been consumed, only silver threads of moonlight and the shining stars was lighting their way. Harm walked to the telescope that he'd placed a good three metres away from the cliff edge. He bent down and began adjusting and tuning the instrument. 

"Hey I see it!" he exclaimed suddenly. He whistled in appreciation and then tugged on Mac's arm to stand her in his place. "Here, take a look."

Mac peered in and gasped with unexpected surprise. Her entire field of vision had been transformed into the backdrop of the universe. In one corner dotted with stars was the crescent moon and in the other, was the large round orange planet of Mars. "This is amazing Harm," she breathed out in awe.  

He lowered his head next to her ear. "See that wisp of white cloud on the southern tip?"

"Uh huh, what is it?" 

"That's the polar cap." 

Mac shook her head in amazement. "I'm impressed Commander," she turned smiling and found herself nose to nose with Harm. 

The casual atmosphere subtly shifted to one of sexual tension. 

"You know how they described this event Mac? I quote, 'As if executing a cosmic air kiss, Earth and Mars will come as close as they desire in the wee hours of Wednesday.'"

Mac stared, regaining her breath. "How close do you think they desire to be?" 

"However close they chose Mac," he drawled out the words leisurely. "We've got proof," he paused, to point at the sky. "The universe's the limit."

The kiss that unfolded was definitely getting much too close and rapidly spinning out of control. Mac pulled away breathlessly. 

Harm understood her actions and took a few steps back to decelerate his racing pulse. It didn't help when Mac gave him another yearning stare through half hooded eyes. She returned with effort, to the telescope.

******.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.**

"Wow, we'll be able to tell our kids we're the first humans to see Mars in sixty thousand years." When she received no response, she turned back to look at Harm, unawares of her slip up. She was startled at the change in his demeanour. She could almost feel him radiating with energy amidst the silent intensity.

"Harm?"

"Say that again," he requested softly.  

"What?" Mac asked, confused. 

"What you just said."

"I just said we'll be able to tell our … kids …" She licked her lips nervously. She'd had no intention of stepping into that boundary, but in lure of the night's events, she decided to play daringly. "That's, if the father wants to."

His eyes widened and subsequently crinkled with a brilliant smile. "Oh, he most definitely will. It'd be a great tale to tell." 

Like the planets that have for thousands of years orbited slowly and inexorably closer and closer, their lives had weaved a similar path. Their friendship which had for so long been running mutually parallel, intertwined, transitioned and without fuss clicked rightly into place. 

Harm's lips curled up into a mischievous grin. "Mac, I'm really starting to believe that there must be some kinda cosmic forces at work. Many things happen just once in a lifetime and this has got to be one of them. I think after nine long years, me and you are finally on the same wave-length."

Mac's eyes glinted with equal cheekiness. "Nah, there's a much simpler explanation."

"Yea, what's that?"

"Men are from Mars," she explained simply.

******.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.**

Additional notes and disclaimers:  
  
_#Harm's quote "As if executing a cosmic air kiss … Wednesday," and ideas for this story originated from this article: story.news.yahoo.com~news?tmpl=story&u=/space/20030826/sc_space/marsmakeshistoryclosesttoearthaug27 #Further ideas and the slight variation of the title comes from the book "Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: A Practical Guide for Improving Communication and Getting What You Want in Your Relationships." I.e. we're assuming Mac had obtained a copy of this and has put it to good use.  _


End file.
